Collapsible tent



NOV. 25, 1969 J, MCCONNELL ETAL 3,480,023

COLLAPS IBLE TENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 31, 1968 INVENTORS. JOHN A. MCCONNELL EVERETT W. WILLIAMSON ATTO EYS Nov.2s,1'969 J. NMCCQNNELL Em 3,48

COLLAPS IBLE TENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 31, 1968 ATTONEYS United States Patent O" 3,480,023 COLLAPSIBLE TENT John A. McConnell and Everett Wayne Williamson,

Newark, Califi, assignors to McConnell, Inc., Newark, Califl, a corporation of California Filed May 31, 1968, Ser. No. 733,383 Int. Cl. A45f l/.00

US. Cl. 1351 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Tent structure adapted to cover different areas. The flexible tent cover is supported by lightweight resilient structural members which are bowed to form arches and have the bottom end parts thereof clamped in sockets pivotally attached to stakes which are adapted to be spaced at predetermined distances depending upon the amount of arching of the structural members and height of the tent.

Description of the invention This invention relates to a tent, and more particularly to a collapsible tent which may be readily collapsed and arranged into a compact form for portability.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved tent which may be made in diflerent sizes and which is adapted to be supported by arched members, the ends of which are adapted to be anchored in the ground so that the height of the arch may be adjusted according to the purpose for which the tent is to be used.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved tent structure made of lightweight material and which is supported by flexible members constructed so that the stress on the lightweight covering material is reduced to a minimum, said members flexing with wind or air currents so that the tent tends to adjust to air flow and aerodynamic resistance thereof is minimized.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved tent structure in which the various supporting members are made of flexible material such as Fiberglas, spring steel or the like, said members being designed so that they are interchangeable, whereby erecting of the tent is simplified.

Other and further objects of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which it relates from the following specification, claim and drawing.

In accordance with this invention there is provided a tent structure employing lightweight covering material which may be of plastic, cloth or the like. This lightweight covering is adapted to be supported by flexible ribs and purlins which may be made of Fiberglas, spring steel or the like. The structural members such as ribs and purlins may be made of uniform lengths so that they are interchangeable to facilitate erecting the tent. These members may be made by joining several flexible members end to end by suitable coupling devices and the ends of each of the ribs are anchored in sockets which are pivotally attached to stakes which are adapted to be driven into the ground at predetermined spaces so that the ribs are maintained in predetermined arched position. The height of the arched ribs is determined by the spacing between the anchoring stakes, and this height may be adjusted by adjusting the distances between the anchoring stakes so that different heights may be provided to the tent, depending upon the use to which the tent is to be placed.

Further details of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which it relates from the following specification, claim and drawing in which, briefly:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tent structure embodying features of this invention;

3,480,023 Patented Nov. 25, 1969 FIG. 5 is a detail view of a coupling member empolyed for'joining four members of the tent structure;

FIG. 5a is a detail view of a coupling member for joining six members of the tent structure;

FIG. 6 is a side view of the coupling member shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a detail view of another type of coupling member for joining four members;

FIG. 8 is a side view of the coupling member shown in FIG. 7;

FIGS. 9, 10 and 11 are sectional views of different types of rib pockets provided to the flexible covering material employed in this tent structure; and

FIG. 12 is a detail view of a part of the flexible tent covering and tent ribs joined by the coupling element shown in FIG. 5.

Referring to the drawing in detail, reference numeral 10 designates the tent structure generally which is provided with a flexible covering 11 of plastic, canvas or like material. This tent structure is provided with a ridge pole 12 which is made up of a plurality of sections of either tubular or solid members of Fiberglas, plastic, spring steel or the like, which are resilient so that they may be bowed but are also of high strength.

These sections are joined together at points 12a by fourway coupling members 16 such as shown in detail in FIG. 5, and at points 12b by six-way coupling members which are similar to the four-way coupling member except that each of them is provided with six sockets spaced as shown in FIG. 5a. A plurality of rib members 13 which are arched and which extend across the ridge pole 12 and also across the purlins 14 are also made up of sections of predetermined length of either solid or tubular members joined to each other and to the ridge pole 12 and purlins 14. Four-way coupling members such as the coupling 16 are used in locations where four members are joined and sixway coupling members 16a are used at the locations 12d where six members are joined.

Each of the sockets of coupling member 16 is provided with a threaded hole and set screw, such as the set screw 16b, and the set screws are adapted to be tightened to grip the structural members 12 and 13, shown in FIG. 5. Another type of coupling member 18 illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 may be provided for coupling the structural members. The coupling member 18 is adapted for use where the ribs 13 do not have a joint at the top where these ribs cross the ridge pole 12. In this case the coupling member 18 is provided with a central portion which arches around the top of the rib 13 and frictionally engages the rib. The opposite ends of the coupling member 18 are provided with sockets 18a which are adapted to receive the end parts of the ridge pole sections 12 and frictionally grip those end portions. Coupling members 18 may also be provided on the sides of the ribs 13 to receive the end portions of the purlins 14 in the sockets 18a thereof in cases where each of the ribs 13 is one continuous member without joints.

The ends of the ribs 13 are adapted to be positioned in the sockets 17a of the stakes 17 and clamped in these sockets by set screws 17c. The sockets 17a are attached to the stakes 17 by pivot pins such as the pin 17b, as shown in FIG. 3 so that the angular position of the socket with respect to the body of the stake may be adjusted when the ribs of the tent are arched at different heights.

A modified form of stake is shown in FIG. 4 which may be used in place of the stake 17. The stake shown in FIG, 4 is provided with a socket 19 which is adapted to receive the end part of the rib and, of course, two of these stakes are employed for each rib, that is, one at each end. The socket 19 is pivotally attached by the pivot pin 19a to the horizontal member 20 which is adapted to lie flat on the ground. The member 20 is provided with a hole for the stake 21 and the stake may be removably positioned in this hole or it may be attached by welding or the like. A set screw 19b is threaded to the socket 19 for clamping the end part of the rib 13 in the socket. Where the stake shown in FIG. 4 is employed, the pegs 21 are positioned inside of the tent structure a short distance, depending upon the length of the horizontal member 20.

The tent covering 11 is provided with rib-receiving pockets, such as shown in FIGS. 9, l and 11. The rib pocket shown in FIG. 9 is formed by taking an edge portion 11a of one of the sheets 11 used to make the tent covering and turning it inward to form a pocket adapted to receive the structural member such as the rib 13. The edge portion 11a is then positioned in a fold formed in the edge portion 11b of another sheet 11 and, in cases where the sheets 11 are of plastic, these folded portions may be heat-sealed. In cases where the sheets 11 are of canvas, then these folded portions may be sewed together. The heat-sealing and sewing are of course performed before the sheets 11 are assembled with the structural members which may be inserted into the completed pockets.

Another type of rib pocket is shown in FIG. 10 in which the end portion 110 of one of the sheets 11 provided between the joints 11d and He is sufiicient to receive the structural member 13. The joints 11d and 11e may also be heat-sealed or sewed, as in the case of the pocket shown in FIG, 9. The pocket shown in FIG. l1 is made from equal parts of each of the sheets 11 which are shown looped around the structural member 13 and joined at 11/1 by either heat-sealing or sewing. This pocket is provided with two reinforcing strips 11] and 11g. The sides of these reinforcing strips are attached by heat-sealing or sewing to folded over parts of the sheets 11 In the manufacture of the pocket shown in FIG. 11, the reinforcing strips 11 and 11g are of course attached to the sheets 11 before the edges of these sheets are joined at 11h. Furthermore, in large tents several sheets 11 may be joined by conventional fastening means such as zippers to facilitate handling thereof, and the zippers may be provided in such locations that they need not be closed until after the structural members are inserted into the pockets and the tent is ready to be erected or is already erected.

The pockets shown in FIGS. 9, 10 and 11 are adapted to be positioned on the inside of the tent covering 11, as shown in FIG. 2, or these pockets may be positioned on the outside of the tent and suitable openings provided in these pockets at the points where the coupling members, such as the four-way coupling member 16 shown in FIG. 12, are to be located, so that these coupling members are accessible and also so that it is easier to insert the structural members into the pockets. The tent covering '11 may also be provided with inflatable air pockets 22, each of which may be provided with a bicycle-type valve so that the pockets 22 may be inflated with a certain air pressure to lend some rigidity to the sheet covering 11 of the tent.

While we have shown a preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood that the invention is capable of variation and modification from the form shown so that the scope thereof should be limited only by the proper scope of the claim appended hereto.

What we claim is:

1. In an elongated tent structure having at least one end of oval shape, said tent structure being readily collapsible so that it is adapted to be arranged into a compact form which is easily portable, the combination comprising a plurality of lightweight resilient structural members of predetermined lengths, detachable coupling members each having a plurality of socket means receiving end portions of selected ones of said structural members serving as ribs, and other selected ones of said structural members serving as the tent ridge pole and as purlins, at least one end portion of the tent structure being constructed with additional selected ones of said structural members radiating from at least one of the ends of said ridge pole, said last mentioned structural members being curved downward from said ridge pole to form an oval shape with selected purlins attached to the detachable couplings thereof, a sheet of flexible material, said sheet having elongated pockets receiving said structural members, said elongated pockets having openings through which said coupling members are attached to said structural members, and stake means having means pivotally attaching the bottom ends of said ribs thereto, one end of each of said ribs being attached to one of a pair of said stake means and the other end being attached to the other of said pair, the stake means of said pair being adapted to be spaced apart different selected predetermined distances determined by the area to be covered by said sheet.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,268,459 6/1918 Hjermstad -15 1,730,565 10/1929 Flintjer 135l5 2,144,747 1/1939 Adams 135l 2,345,377 3/1944 Bowen 135--1 2,755,009 7/1956 Parker 135l5 X 2,823,683 2/ 1958 Smith et al. 135--3 2,948,047 8/1960 Peeler et a1 135-1 3,085,586 4/1963 McDonough 135-4 3,371,671 3/1968 Kirkham 1351 PETER M. CAUN, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 1353, 7.1 

